Raising a Stink Over Chinese Produce

Two points particularly struck me in “Farmers’ Fears Take Root” (Aug. 8), citing the fears of fruit and vegetable growers here in California and throughout the U.S. facing competition from their counterparts in China.

First, your article noted that costs for land, labor, energy, water and fertilizer are much less in China than in the U.S. Second, you reported that “U.S. produce . . . is grown under stricter health and safety standards than those found in most of China.”

Now, it has been quite some time since I graduated from the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at UC Davis, but am I to conclude from these reports that Chinese farmers are continuing their traditional practice of fertilizing their fields with “night earth”--collected free from ubiquitous roadside outhouses?

If I am wrong, I hope someone will correct me. But if I am right, I hope someone will please assure us that our food supply is, and will continue to be, safe and wholesome. Although I am an organic gardener (with a sincere respect for the industrious Chinese people and their rich, ancient culture), I think I would rather take my chances with home-grown crops, even if they were genetically engineered (assuming they were independently tested).

Douglas Drenkow

Arcadia

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For decades, we have rushed through the world and bought up foreign companies with our strong dollar to later close them, keep the market share and leave unemployment behind. We have flushed capital markets with cash to later take it away with the click of a mouse and leave devastation. We have outperformed small local companies with conglomerate efficiency and marketing power, resulting in elimination of local cultures.

The name of the game is globalization, and the rule is that the weakest link has to go without considering cultural, national or human aspects. The weakest link is the California farmer--goodbye!

Renee Gross

Los Angeles

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Could someone please ask President Bush and the Pentagon to take that trillion dollars they want to spend on the missile defense system and save it to give back to the American people after China bankrupts all our farmers and then decides to raise the price on goods they sell us, as a certain cartel in the Middle East is doing right now?

I’m not worried about nuclear war as much as I am about being unable to afford the price of gas and now vegetables.

Dave Gunall

Ventura